Les Kaufman Co-Authors New Book Chapter on Coral Reef Restoration

Les Kaufman, a Professor in the Department of Biology and a Faculty Associate at the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, led a team of four co-authors on the concluding chapter of a new book on coral reef restoration. The book, titled Active Coral Restoration: Techniques for a Changing Planet, was edited by David E. Vaughan, and is the first comprehensive volume on the practice of active coral reef restoration. Kaufman’s chapter is titled “Making Restoration Meaningful: A Vision for Working at Multiple Scales to Help Secure a Future for Coral Reefs.”

Prof. Kaufman has been deeply involved in providing scientific support on coral reef conservation and restoration, including field and modeling projects in Florida, Belize, and the central Pacific. He is a founding member of the steering committee for the Coral Restoration Consortium (a NOAA-led international collaborative), he sits on the science working group for Mission: Iconic Reefs (a national effort to restore seven shallow reef patches in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary), and he is an affiliate of Mote Marine Laboratory (which operates a coral restoration laboratory on Summerland Key in Florida).

At the Pardee Center, Prof. Kaufman leads the Coupled Human and Natural Systems (CHANS) research program. The CHANS program investigates how governance, social, and economic systems are intricately connected to natural systems, how we can better explore those connections, and how to better understand the trade-offs that confront those making resource management decisions. The research encompasses four geographic areas: Cambodia (Tonle Sap and the Mekong Delta), East Africa (Lake Victoria), South Florida and Belize (the tropical west Atlantic and Caribbean Basin), and the Gulf of Maine.